About Sparkenhoe
We are a family run farm and cheese dairy, located in Upton, a small hamlet in the Southwest Leicestershire countryside. On the farm we manage 150 milking pedigree Holstein Friesian cows and 160 followers (young stock and dry cows). The cows are fed on the farm’s lush pastures and calving takes place all year round to keep the milk supply as consistent as possible.
In 2005 we started making England’s only unpasteurised Red Leicester cheese, a cheese that hadn’t been made on the farm since 1857.
In 2017 our son, William started to make the wonderfully traditional raw milk blue cheeses- Sparkenhoe Blue and Sparkenhoe Shropshire Blue. Will also runs a 270-ewe flock of Romney sheep on mixed herbal leys.
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The name Sparkenhoe is an old English name meaning gorsey knob. The name was given to the old medieval one hundred area and as the farm is situated in the middle of this area it was named Sparkenhoe Farm.
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Our Ethos
Here at Sparkenhoe Farm, we believe it is important to connect people to the food they eat and the farm from which it came. It is our mission to produce the highest quality nourishing milk and tastiest traditional cheeses for our customers. We also believe that it is our duty to use farming practices and principles that increase biodiversity, enrich soils, and enhance ecosystems.
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We are always striving to be a one farm process by producing as much of the cows feed as possible on the farm. Furthermore, almost all of the energy that is used in the cheese dairy production is generated from renewable sources including sola panels and a biomass boiler.
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